Liberty Football finishes 2020 with best-ever national rankings

The best season in school history is now complete with the Liberty University Football team receiving a program-record end of the year national ranking.

With the 2020 college football season now in the books following the conclusion of Monday night’s national championship game, the final Associated Press and the Amway Coaches Poll were released today.

The Flames finished the season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press poll and No. 18 in the Coaches Poll for the 2020 season.

Both national rankings are the highest ever in program history. The rankings also mark the first time Liberty has finished a season ranked in the last national rankings of the year.

The Flames received their first-ever top 25 ranking on Nov. 1 when they were ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press top poll.

Liberty remained inside one of the national top-25 polls for seven out of the last eight weeks of the regular season and was ranked No. 23 in both polls heading into its bowl game match with then-No. 9/11 ranked Coastal Carolina.

Liberty had a season of “firsts” in 2020, including the team’s first-ever national ranking, first win over an ACC opponent, the best start in school history (8-0 to start 2020), first-ever win over a top-25 FBS program and back-to-back bowl game wins.

Liberty defeated a pair of ACC foes in Syracuse and in-state opponent Virginia Tech. The two wins made Liberty the first non-Power 5 team to post a pair of wins over Power 5 schools in the same season since Houston in 2015.

The Flames finished the season with a 10-1 record, tying the program’s record for wins in a season (Liberty finished the 2008 season with a 10-2 record).

With the Cure Bowl win over its former Big South Conference rival, Liberty became the second transitioning team in NCAA history (Appalachian State was the first) to win consecutive bowl games during its first two full seasons at the FBS level.